Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to these characters, I just play in their world.
The next morning Leoben wakes before Kara. He has a wicked hang over and decides Kara probably will too, so he leaves her sleeping form, he grabs a pair of sweats and wanders out into his living room. He looks at the clock and swears. He's supposed to be at work in a few hours. He calls Joey up and tells him he's been getting sick all night and he can't seem to drag his ass out of the bathroom. Joey, knowing Kara is in town, snorts and lets Leoben off the hook.
He turns the news on and watches the weather before turning off the noise and light. He grasps his head and realizes he needs water. He moves to the kitchen, making coffee and starting to make some breakfast.
He swears as the bacon pops and grease flies onto his chest. He turns down the burner and moves to the closet for his sweat shirt. He zips it up and relaxes, no more exposed skin for the bacon to attack. Kara sneaks up quietly behind him and moves her arms around him.
"Who said you could put clothes on?" She whispers.
"The bacon did." He smiles and removes the bacon from the burner. He turns to find her stark naked still.
"Well I will have to punish the bacon," She unzips the sweat shirt and pulls him with her towards the bedroom, "But only after." She purrs.
Kara is sitting on the command deck, going over the "pick-ups" for the day. Not a bad haul for deep space. She smiles and her crew moves uneasily knowing that smile usually means there's going to be hell to pay.
"Hammer, how are we coming on those coordinates?" She looks at her helmsman. The petite red head looks surprised.
"Fine Starbuck. ETA half an hour."
"Good good." She moved her gun at her side, knowing she should go get her bigger one. Bigger is better when you're trying to intimidate.
Twenty minutes later in the docking bay Hammer's voice came over the comm. "They're fighting sir." There is a metallic slam. "Hard lock, pressure good."
Kara is the leader so she goes first brandishing both her pistols and a gas mask; she's flanked by Copper and Floyd the big boys of the crew. They find their way to the command deck of the other ship.
"What do you want?" Their captain asks.
"What do you think we want?" Floyd releases the gas. The crew looks shocked and Kara smiles to herself concealed behind the mask. Some crews actually would put up a fight, but it didn't look as if this crew would even know which end of a pistol to use. Kara snorts and heads back to Temptation to get the rest of the crew.
The crew scrambles to unload the shipment from the ship. It's a shipment of Picon ale to be delivered to Caprica. Kara's buyers want it on Arelon. Wherever, whenever, she thinks to herself. Kara follows the crew back onto the ship and helps unload the shipment. By the end the gas has dissipated and Kara and her crew are sweaty and exhausted from moving the large barrels. They get about half the shipment before the gas should start wearing off. They pack up the equipment and head back to Temptation.
Kara returns to the command deck and they set forth towards Arelon. After the comm. Officer changes their transponder signal, and they're in the clear, Kara goes to her office to catch up on her ledger. The books have been balanced for weeks now. Kara sighs as she tries to think of other ways to distract herself. She's been restless for a while now. No not a while, since Picon. She knows better than to think of him. She strips down and prepares to go run on the treadmill.
On Picon Leoben violently pushes his Principles of Psychology away from himself after only a few hours of studying. He can feel the emptiness she's caused. He's never felt like this; like part of him is missing when she is away. It's only a week now until he moves back to Caprica. He's left an address with Joey but he suspects Kara won't get the message and its driving him mad.
He gets up and paces his apartment. She left him nothing to contact her with. No ship name, no transceiver codes, no address. Although he did find her "home" address on Caprica, it's a post office box. He sent a letter there anyways.
He sighed to himself and returns to studying Caprican law on doctor patient confidentiality and prescription of meds.
It's a full two months before Kara can set foot on Picon. Her travels and deals have taken her to every other frakking colony in the Twelve Colonies but not Picon. She saunters into Joey's bar at 3 pm and finds it nearly empty. She moves to the bar and asks the bartender about Leoben. He silently hands her an envelop. She looks at him puzzled and tears open the small note.
Kara,
My goddess.
I have moved back to Caprica to accept a psychiatrist job. Come see me when you get a chance. My skin burns for yours.
Leoben
There is an address at the bottom of the note. She thanks the man behind the counter and moves out of the bar. Damn, she thought. He really did get to her, because she knew she was going to seek him out on Caprica. She wasn't finished with him, not by half.
It took another few weeks before there was enough time to take leave on Caprica. The crew loved Caprica and were glad their down time wouldn't beenbe spent on Picon like the captain had originally told them. They even had three days of leave while the ship was being overhauled.
"Don't forget dinner two nights from now at my house. I'm even planning to cook." She said to her crew. It was tradition on a planet where the crew held residence to have the crew over for drinks and real food. Usually it ended when the cards came out and Kara took everyone's liquor and money.
Kara caught a cab to her place. It was musty smelling but it was home. She put her bag down and head towards the shower. It was almost an hour before she stepped out from under the hot spray. She got ready to go back out into the world, knowing exactly where she was going next. She opened her closet and picked out something that didn't smell of engine grease or blood or sweat. The shirt was soft as were the dark blue pants. She even put make-up on. Feeling like she was going out on the town Kara caught another cab into the heart of the city. She had an appointment.
She found the building with ease. Taking the elevator to the twenty sixth floor she stepped off the first door had a plaque that said L. Conoy MD, she entered and signed in. After a few moments the receptionist showed her to a room with a desk and two chairs facing the desk.
"The doctor will be right with you." She smiles nicely at Kara and exits. Kara sits smiling to herself. She hears the door open and notices he's not looking at her as he enters the room.
"Well Ms. Timol, how can I…" His voice dies as he looks up from the chart he's holding. He shuts the door behind him. She smiles at him. He's wearing glasses, which make him look more professional in her eyes. "You came." He breathed leaning against the door and smiling almost afraid to move. Afraid she'll just be a day dream.
But she's not. She comes up to him and moves her hand to cup his cheek then move down his neck to rest on his chest. "Miss me?" She asks leaning in and kissing him. He wraps both arms around her and lefts her clean off the floor.
"Yes." He says softly as he breaks away from their kiss. He sets her down and moves his forehead to rest against hers. "I'm surprised Joey gave you the note."
"Max did actually."
"Good." He cleared his throat and moved away from her. "Well Ms. Timol, I can't ask you this but I can ask your alter ego Kara Thrace this: will you have dinner with me tonight?"
She hesitates. "Sure." She says a bit puzzled.
"Uh-oh that is not a happy look." He comments sitting down behind his desk. "What's wrong with going to dinner with me?"
"Nothing, just thinking to myself that I haven't been on a real date for years."
"What's wrong with a real date?"
"Just wondering how you got to me." He grins at that comment and she frowns even harder.
"Trust me the feeling is mutual." She snorts in retort. "Seriously, I almost failed my licensure because I could barely concentrate to study enough to take the damn test." He finishes his antidote knowing he shouldn't have told her that. His suspicion that she would use the information to drive him to further distraction was confirmed at she grinned wickedly at him. She leaned forward and writes her home address down. Her shirt gapes open and he can see her lacey bra under the low cut tee shirt, he sighs and returns his gaze to her face.
"Pick you up at 8?" He asks leaning back.
"Sure."
"Can I ask you to do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Wear your glasses for me tonight?" She asks.
"Sure thing." He says and smiles as he watcher her walk out the door.
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TBC...